CAA's action against Phantom quickly spread throughout Hollywood, and several major production companies got the news immediately.
Eisner sat in his seat and listened to his subordinates reporting the matter to him.
"Boss, what will we do if the Phantom finds us?" Eisner's assistant Paul asked after telling the whole story.
Now Phantom Media and Disney can be regarded as partners. Now that Phantom is targeted by CAA and lacks actors, in Paul's opinion, Phantom will definitely seek help from allies.
Eisner pondered for a moment and said: "Caa has indeed gone too far in the past two years!"
In the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, Hollywood experienced a sharp increase in actors' salaries and a sharp increase in production costs. One of the main reasons for this was the rampant packaging policy of CAA.
As CAA's packaging policy becomes popular in Hollywood, directors and actors have more negotiating capital when negotiating with production companies, and production companies have to pinch their noses and agree to increase their remuneration.
Paul continued to ask: "Then we help the Phantom?"
Eisner asked, "Did Phantom call us?"
Paul shook his head, looking a little confused, and said: "No, this is also what I find strange. The Phantom at this time is in a critical period of reorganization. With CAA suddenly coming, the Phantom must be in crisis, but it is strange
What’s more, Phantom has not contacted us yet, hoping to jointly boycott CAA.”
Eisner fell into deep thought, and after a moment, asked: "Do you think it is the greater threat to us when the CAA grows up, or the greater threat to us when the Phantom grows up?"
Paul knew his boss's character. When he asked this question, he actually already had the answer in his mind. What he had to do was guess what Eisner was thinking.
"I think they pose a big threat to us!" Paul chose an ambiguous answer.
In the end, Eisner laughed, "Yes, both Phantom and CAA may be our opponents in the future. If Phantom successfully completes its reorganization, Phantom will become the largest production company in Hollywood.
We need to share the cake, but CAA can target Phantom now, so will they use the same method to deal with us in the future?"
"Where should we go then?"
This time Paul didn't answer, he just looked at Eisner quietly...
Eisner thought for a moment and said: "Is there any way to make both of them lose? Only in this way can Disney find the most beneficial place for us!"
Finally, Eisner stood up and said: "In this way, whether it is Phantom or CAA calling, they all said that we have deep cooperation with each other and it is inconvenient to interfere in this matter."
"Help me make appointments with the A-level stars represented by Hera and the A-level stars of CAA in the next two days. Although we at Disney do not do agent work, it is still necessary to maintain some good relationships with them!"
Eisner also saw the energy of CAA in this action of CAA. In the final analysis, as long as Disney can maintain a good cooperative relationship with these stars and directors, even if CAA wants to take action against Disney in the future, it will have to consider itself.
The mood of contracted stars and directors.
As for the battle between CAA and Phantom, in Eisner's opinion it doesn't matter who wins and who loses. What's important is that Disney must find its own interests in this battle!
Eisner's decision was actually similar to the decisions of several other production companies. For a time, top Hollywood stars and directors became popular.
.......
Spielberg and Lucas were also discussing this incident at this time. The inertia of history allowed Spielberg to sign a contract with CAA even though he did not get the rights to adapt "Jurassic Park" and became a
Got caa’s Dinghai Shenzhen.
"Have you known about this for a long time?" Lucas asked as the cigar in his hand slowly emitted smoke.
Spielberg nodded and said: "Yes, Ovitz called me before the CAA action!"
Lucas said: "Caa's timing of taking action this time is very critical!"
Everyone knows that Phantom is currently busy with the reorganization of the media group, but at this time, CAA launched an action against Phantom, catching Phantom off guard.
Spielberg said with a smile: "I was also very shocked by Ovitz's action. I didn't expect him to be so courageous, but this matter is always good for us!"
Lucas smiled, and then said: "But you still have to remind caa not to be careless. You must know that the Phantom is no longer the original Phantom, and it is impossible not to fight back against this matter!"
Spielberg said: "Ovitz and I have already discussed this matter. Even if Phantom takes action, it will probably work with CAA's contracted actors and directors. But in my opinion, it's not
Don’t worry too much. After all, the core actors and directors of CAA have all stood with us and had conflicts with the Phantom. Even though these conflicts have faded a lot now, these people will definitely have a lot of concerns.
, it is not so easy to be instigated by Phantom to rebel!"
This is actually one of the reasons why CAA dares to go to war with the Phantom. For CAA, their packaging policy has benefited many actors and directors. At the same time, almost all of the core resources in their hands have been in conflict with the Phantom.
For example, Dustin Hoffman, Spielberg and others have direct contradictions.
Even if Phantom wants to poach people, it may not be successful. As long as these core resources can be firmly controlled by CAA, those second-level actors and directors cannot do without CAA's packaging policy, and CAA will not be afraid.
Phantom is poaching people!
.......
In CAA's headquarters and Ovitz's office, Meyer and Harper, two other shareholders of CAA, were sitting on the sofa, holding wine glasses in their hands, celebrating with Ovitz!
When caa was founded, there were actually five founders. However, the other two left later, leaving only three of them. Ovitz holds 55% of the shares in caa, while Meyer and Harper hold shares respectively.
22.5%.
So it can be said that Ovitz is the voice of the CAA!
Meyer smiled and said: "The company has contacted CBS and NBC. Actors who quit at ABC will be arranged to work in CBS and NBC TV productions!"
Although the action against Phantom was a thunderous operation, CAA did not act recklessly. Before the action, it had already contacted CBS and NBC, the two major TV stations, to send out its contracted actors.
Harper asked from the side: "What are the reactions of the actors in the company?"
Meyer smiled and said: "Don't worry, the movies and TV series filmed by Phantom and ABC are originally based on actors contracted by Hera's agency as the main roles, and the other actors they found are supporting roles. Such an opportunity to appear is not a big deal for those in the company."
For second- and third-rate actors, it actually doesn’t matter!”
Because of Hera's agency, many of Phantom's major productions are almost all actors contracted by Hera's agency. This has caused the packaging policy implemented by CAA to not be well promoted by Phantom. The two parties already have deep grievances.
Coupled with the previous conflict, CAA dared to take action against the Phantom!
Ovitz sat on his sofa, raised the corners of his eyes slightly, and said with a smile: "But we can't be careless. After all, Phantom is no longer the Phantom before. After acquiring ABC, Phantom has almost made up for its business shortcomings.
, now we must show our CAA capabilities before they can react, and let the other party know that not all fields can be touched by them!"
"Our ultimate goal is to cooperate with Phantom. This action will determine which one of us has more say in our future cooperation."
There is no doubt about the power of Phantom, but now Ovitz has also seen that Phantom Media, which is being reorganized, can be said to be the weakest at this time. If the internal restructuring of Phantom Media is successful in the future, then CAA will
It’s unrealistic to take action!
In Ovitz's mind, what he really wants to do is not to suppress Phantom, but to use this action to tell Phantom about CAA's strength. In past cooperation, CAA has always been unable to get Phantom's core business. This has always been the case.
A pain in Ovitz's heart.
With the development of Phantom, Ovitz knew that he could no longer wait for Hera's agent to grow up. With the support of Phantom, Hera's agent would definitely become the most important agent of CAA in the future if he really waited for the reorganization of Phantom to be completed.
one of the opponents.
Ovitz doesn't want to see this happen.
"Do you think Phantom will sell Hera's agency to us?" Meyer asked with some confusion.
Before that, the three people had already met to discuss this matter. The ultimate goal of the CAA operation was to force Phantom to sell Hera's agency to him and at the same time obtain cooperation with Phantom.
Although Ovitz has not read the quotations of great men, he also knows that negotiations are fought out, so in his opinion, CAA must first show its muscles to the Phantom. Only in this way can it take the initiative in subsequent negotiations!
Ovitz smiled and said: "Why not? Have you done everything I asked you to do?"
Meyer said: "I have already contacted Arnold Schwarzenegger and others. These people are quite interested in cooperating with our CAA, but because they signed long-term contracts with Hera Agent, and
The liquidated damages are very high, so it’s not easy to lure them over!”
CAA not only wants to take action against Phantom, but also wants to recruit Hera's agent.
Ovitz said: "Tell them that if they want to terminate the contract with Hera Agency, our CAA can hire a lawyer for them and pay liquidated damages!"
Harper said with some worry: "This is a lot of money!"
Ovitz smiled and said: "Don't worry, do you know what is the most profitable business in the world? It is a monopoly. As long as we can acquire the Hera Agency, then it will be our CAA who has the final say in the entire Hollywood.
The loss is nothing!”
Hearing what Ovitz said, Meyer and Harper also showed happy smiles.
Since the establishment of caa in 1975, they have grown from a small workshop to now Hollywood's leading agency, Sean Connery, Paul Newman, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Tom Cruise
, Steven Seagal, Spielberg, Francis Coppola...
These top stars and directors have become CAA's contracted actors and directors. It can be said that all of this was accomplished with the efforts of Ovitz. It is also under the leadership of Ovitz that they have gradually become the most popular actors in Hollywood.
A successful agency, it also has a stronger voice in Hollywood than several major production companies.
Now Ovitz has finally set his sights on Hera's agent, Phantom. They also believe that Ovitz can lead CAA to continue to glory!
"By the way, is there any director or actor who can tell you that Hera's agent is poaching people?" Ovitz knew that Phantom would definitely not stop there.
For CAA, the core resources are always the actors, directors and others in its hands. However, whether it is Spielberg or others, or Ovitz, they all know that their core actors and directors were more or less at the beginning.
When Pierberg fought Wu Jianye, he was on the opposite side of the Phantom.
Under such a general premise, it would be very difficult for Hera's agent to poach people.
Meyer smiled and said: "Don't worry, I have called them separately, and there is no movement from Hera's agency now!"
After hearing this, Ovitz and Harper also showed happy smiles.
"By the way, there is one thing. Wu Jianye once found one of our contracted actors and wanted to invite her to participate in an ABC TV series. Wu Jianye has already told her that this TV series will be ABC's most popular TV series this year.
An important TV series!" Meyer thought of the previous reports given to him by his subordinates.
Ovitz was stunned for a moment and asked: "What level of actor?"
Meyer smiled and said: "I'm just a young actor, but he looks very beautiful!"
Ovitz nodded and understood what Meyer meant, but Wu Jianye's previous screenwriter works have made Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, etc. popular.
It can be seen that Wu Jianye is also very discerning in discovering new talents.
After thinking for a while, he said: "Call the actor in and let me take a look!"
Meyer nodded, picked up the phone in Ovitz's office, made a call, and Aniston walked in not long after.
At this time, Aniston was still very dissatisfied. After all, being able to star in a work written by Wu Jianye was a rare opportunity for every new actor. However, because of CAA's actions, she was about to lose this opportunity.
.
Ovitz's eyes lit up when he saw Aniston. Even in Hollywood, where there are so many beauties, Aniston's looks are still top-notch.
"Aniston, don't worry. The company has already discussed it with CBS. The other party is currently making a TV series. We have recommended you to play an important supporting role!" After seeing Aniston, Ovitz relied on his
After many years of experience, I know that with Aniston's current appearance, she can definitely try to focus on cultivating her.
Aniston had a smile on her face, but she was smiling bitterly in her heart. She could clearly distinguish between the important supporting role and the protagonist of this year's ABC drama written by Wu Jianye.
But just as she was about to reply, the phone on Ovitz's desk suddenly rang.
Ovitz smiled and answered the phone, but then the expression on his face changed...